BIBLICAL DISTINCTIVES

BETWEEN MALES AND FEMALES

(Topic No. 17)

The Danvers Statement

by
The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

Rationale
We have been moved in our purpose by the following contemporary developments
which we observe with deep concern:

1. The widespread uncertainty and confusion in our culture regarding the

complementary differences between masculinity and femininity;
2. the tragic effects of this confusion in unraveling the fabric of marriage woven
by God out of the beautiful and diverse strands of manhood and womanhood;
3. the increasing promotion given to feminist egalitarianism with accompanying
distortions or neglect of the glad harmony portrayed in Scripture between the
loving, humble leadership of redeemed husbands and the intelligent, willing
support of that leadership by redeemed wives;
4. the widespread ambivalence regarding the values of motherhood, vocational
homemaking, and the many ministries historically performed by women;
5. the growing claims of legitimacy for sexual relationships which have
Biblically and historically been considered illicit or perverse, and the increase
in pornographic portrayal of human sexuality;
6. the upsurge of physical and emotional abuse in the family;
7. the emergence of roles for men and women in church leadership that do not
conform to Biblical teaching but backfire in the crippling of Biblically faithful
witness;
8. the increasing prevalence and acceptance of hermeneutical oddities devised to
reinterpret apparently plain meanings of Biblical texts;
9. the consequent threat to Biblical authority as the clarity of Scripture is
jeopardized and the accessibility of its meaning to ordinary people is
withdrawn into the restricted realm of technical ingenuity;
10. and behind all this the apparent accommodation of some within the church to
the spirit of the age at the expense of winsome, radical Biblical authenticity
which in the power of the Holy Spirit may reform rather than reflect our ailing
culture.

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Purposes
Recognizing our own abiding sinfulness and fallibility, and acknowledging the
genuine evangelical standing of many who do not agree with all of our convictions,
nevertheless, moved by the preceding observations and by the hope that the noble
Biblical vision of sexual complementarity may yet win the mind and heart of Christ's
church, we engage to pursue the following purposes:

1. To study and set forth the Biblical view of the relationship between men and
women, especially in the home and in the church.
2. To promote the publication of scholarly and popular materials representing
this view.
3. To encourage the confidence of lay people to study and understand for
themselves the teaching of Scripture, especially on the issue of relationships
between men and women.
4. To encourage the considered and sensitive application of this Biblical view in
the appropriate spheres of life.
5. And thereby
to bring healing to persons and relationships injured by an inadequate
grasp of God's will concerning manhood and womanhood,
to help both men and women realize their full ministry potential
through a true understanding and practice of their God-given roles,
and to promote the spread of the gospel among all peoples by fostering
a Biblical wholeness in relationships that will attract a fractured world.

Affirmations
Based on our understanding of Biblical teachings, we affirm the following:

1. Both Adam and Eve were created in God's image, equal before God as
persons and distinct in their manhood and womanhood (Genesis 1:26-27,
2:18).

2. Distinctions in masculine and feminine roles are ordained by God as part of

the created order, and should find an echo in every human heart (Genesis
2:18, 21-24; I Corinthians 11:7-9; I Timothy 2:12-14).

3. Adam's headship in marriage was established by God before the Fall, and was
not a result of sin (Genesis 2:16-18, 21-24; 3:1-13; I Corinthians 11:7-9).

4. The Fall introduced distortions into the relationships between men and women
(Genesis 3:1-7, 12, 16).
In the home, the husband's loving, humble headship tends to be
replaced by domination or passivity; the wife's intelligent, willing
submission tends to be replaced by usurpation or servility.
In the church, sin inclines men toward a worldly love of power or an
abdication of spiritual responsibility, and inclines women to resist
limitations on their roles or to neglect the use of their gifts in
appropriate ministries.

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 5. The Old Testament, as well as the New Testament, manifests the equally high
value and dignity which God attached to the roles of both men and women
(Genesis 1:21-27, 2:18; Galatians3:28). Both Old and New Testaments also
affirm the principle of male headship in the family and in the covenant
community (Genesis 2:18; Ephesians 5:21-33; Colossians 3:18-19; I Timothy
2:11-15).

6. Redemption in Christ aims at removing the distortions introduced by the

curse.
In the family, husbands should forsake harsh or selfish leadership and
grow in love and care for their wives; wives should forsake resistance
to their husbands' authority and grow in willing, joyful submission to
their husbands' leadership (Ephesians 5:21-33; Colossians 3:18-19;
Titus 2:2-5; I Peter 3:1-7).
In the church, redemption in Christ gives men and women an equal
share in the blessings of salvation; nevertheless, some governing and
teaching roles within the church are restricted to men (Genesis 3:28; I
Corinthians 11:2-16; I Timothy 2:11-15).

7. In all of life Christ is the supreme authority and guide for men and women, so
that no earthly submissiondomestic, religious, or civil ever implies a
mandate to follow a human authority into sin (Daniel 3:10-18; Acts 4:19-20,
5:27-29; I Peter 3:1-2).

8. In both men and women a heartfelt sense of call to ministry should never be
used to set aside Biblical criteria for particular ministries (I Timothy 2:11-15,
3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9). Rather, Biblical teaching should remain the authority for
testing our subjective discernment of God's will.

9. With half the world's population outside the reach of indigenous evangelism;
with countless other lost people in those societies that have heard the gospel;
with the stresses and miseries of sickness, malnutrition, homelessness,
illiteracy, ignorance, aging, addiction, crime, incarceration, neuroses, and
loneliness, no man or woman who feels a passion from God to make His grace
known in word and deed need ever live without a fulfilling ministry for the
glory of Christ and the good of this fallen world (I Corinthians 12:7-21).

10. We are convinced that a denial or neglect of these principles will lead to
increasingly destructive consequences in our families, our churches, and the
culture at large.

The "Danvers Statement" was prepared by several evangelical leaders at a CBMW

meeting in Danvers, Mass., in December, 1987. It was first published in final form by
the CBMW in Wheaton, Ill., in November, 1988. We grant permission and encourage
interested persons to use, reproduce, and distribute the Danvers Statement.
Additional copies of this brochure are available for a donation of $9.00 for 50, and
$15.00 for 100, postpaid, from CBMW, P.O. Box 317, Wheaton, IL 60189.

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 Elliot Johnson Homemaker Memphis, Tennessee
Council Members
Professor of Bible Expostion
Dallas Theological Seminary Ken Sarles, Th.M.
Gary Almy, M.D. Asst. Prof. of Systematic Theology
Prof. of Psychiatry and Assoc. Dean Dallas Theological Seminary
Chicago Medical School S. Lewis Johnson, Jr. Th.D.*
Minister Siegfried Schatzmann, Ph.D.
Believers Chapel, Dallas
Gleason Archer, Ph.D. Professor of New Testament
Professor of Old Testament Oral Roberts University
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Mary A. Kassian
Author, Women's Ministry Consultant Larry Walker, Ph.D.
Calvary Baptist Church, Edmonton Professor of Old Testament
Donald Balasa, J .D. Mid-America Seminary
Attorney, Wildwood, Illinois
Rhonda H. Kelley, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Innovative Evangelism William Weinrich, Ph.D.
James Borland, Th.D. New Orleans, Louisiana Professor of Church History
Prof. of New Testament and Theology Concordia Seminary (Ft. Wayne, Ind.)
Liberty University
George W. Knight, III, Th.D.
*Currently serving on the Council's
Administrator, Dean and Prof. of New Test.
Waldemar Degner, Ph.D. Executive Committee
Knox Theological Seminary
Professor of Exegetical Theology
Concordia Seminary (Ft. Wayne, Ind.)
Beverly LaHaye
Lane T. Dennis, Ph.D.
President Board of Reference
Concerned Women for
President, Crossway Books America Hudson T. Armerding
Harold O. J. Brown
Thomas R. Edgar, Th.D. Betty Jo Lewis D. A. Carson
Professor of New Testament Homemaker
Capital Bible Seminary Atlanta, Georgia Edmund Clowney
Jerry Falwell
John M. Frame, M. Phil. Connie Marshner Carl F. H. Henry
Professor of Systematic Theology
Westminster Theological Seminary
Editor Paul Karleen
Child & Family Protection Inst. D. James Kennedy
W. Robert Godfrey, Ph.D. Richard Mayhue, Th.D. Gordon R. Lewis
Professor of Church History Vice-Pres., Dean of Grad. Studies Erwin Lutzer
Westminster Theological Seminary The Master's Seminary John MacArthur, Jr.
Douglas J. Moo, Ph.D. Marty Minton
Wayne A. Grudem, Ph.D.* Chairman, Dept. of New Testament Thomas McComiskey
Assoc. Prof. of Systematic Theology
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School J.I. Packer
Paige and Dorothy
H. Wayne House, Th.D., J.D.* Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr., Ph.D. Patterson
Asst. Prof. of Old Testament Pat Robertson
Vice-president and Professor of Theology
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Western Baptist college Adrian and Joyce
Dorothy Patterson, D.Min. Rogers
R. Kent Hughes, D.Min.* Homemaker, Dallas, Texas Bob Slosser
Senior Pastor
College Church in Wheaton (Illinois)
R. C. Sproul
John Piper, Dr. Theol.* James A. Stahr
James B. Hurley, Ph.D. Senior Pastor Joseph M. Stowell, III
Bethlehem Baptist Church John F. Walvoord
Professor of Counseling
(Minneapolis)
Reformed Theological Seminary Luder Whitlock
Joyce Rogers Peter Williamson

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